A Quick Note and some BEA Blogger Fun!

Well hello there lovely bookish people! Some of you may be wondering, WHERE ON EARTH IS KATELYN!?!? I haven’t really been posting on the blog and my Twitter and Instagram posts have been far and few between lately but I swear I am still here…well kind of! A few things in life have happened lately (meeting a boy, my sister and niece staying with me for a few months, a computer that decided it didn’t want to work anymore, my crazy family becoming even crazier, and my mess of a job getting even messier) that have made my blogging time basically non-existent. I have been missing blogging and bookish nerdiness like crazy and I swear I am getting back to it but it will likely be another month before I am going to be up and running again. If you could all bear with me for just a little bit longer, I swear I will make it all up to you!

In other news, it’s almost time for BEA!!! I am going to BEA for what will be my 3rd year in a row. It is an incredible experience and is one I look forward to all year long. This year is going to be even more awesome because I am not only rooming with my favorite awkward twin, Alexa from Alexa Loves Books but I am also co-hosting TWO (yes, I said TWO!!!) events with her, Andrea from The Overstuffed Bookcase, and Jen from YA Romantics!

They all posted the information on the two events weeks ago but since I am just now getting access to a working computer, you are getting the info a little bit late from me! If you are going to be in and around the New York area during BEA time, we would absolutely LOVE if you could make it to one or both of our blogger events! I have all the info for each of the events below so take a look and if you can make it (or even if you can’t but plan on being at BEA) let me know in the comments section or on Twitter!

ALL ABOUT THE EVENTS:

Andrea, the genius behind these events wanted to create something that would get book bloggers together so we could meet and get to know each other outside of our blogs and twitter. She enlisted the help of myself, Alexa, and Jen and we soon formed a team of founders that created and organized the first annual Book Blogger Picnic in 2013. For it being our first event together, the picnic was a great success. We were able to meet, chat with, and get to know lots of awesome book bloggers. This year we have our 2014 BEA Book Blogger Picnic and a whole new event, the 2014 BEA Book Blogger Meet and Drink!

WHAT: The 2014 BEA Book Blogger Picnic! There will be some snacks and drinks provided but you can also feel free to bring your own. We really want this to be a low-key, relaxed, and fun way for all of us book bloggers to hang out!

WHEN: Friday, May 30, 6-8pm. Keep in mind that it is totally okay if you have to come late or leave early!

WHO: ALL book bloggers are welcome, whether you’re attending BEA or not!

WHERE: The lawns outside Heckscher Playground (see map below) near the SW corner of Central Park in NYC. Andrea, Alexa, Jen and I will all be wearing bright pink BEA Book Blogger Picnic shirts so if all else fails, look for those!

IMPORTANT INFO: Like I said above, you can bring your own food and drinks to the event. Also, a few bloggers last year brought books that they wanted to giveaway and/or exchange so if that sounds like something you would like to do, be sure to bring those to the event as well! Don’t forget you are meeting us at the lawns outside the Heckscher Playground as you can see from the map of Central Park above. If you go into the park from Columbus Circle, you should be able to find us pretty easily, since we will be between Columbus Circle and Heckscher Playground. Be sure to look for us in the bright pink shirts! We may also have a sign.

Follow #BEABloggerPicnic for info and updates!

WHAT: We are brining you the first annual BEA Book Blogger Meet & Drink. It will be a great way for book bloggers to meet, chat, and have a few drinks!

WHEN: Saturday, May 31, 8-10pm. Keep in mind you can come late to this and leave early (or if we are having lots of fun, leave a little bit late!)

WHO: ALL book bloggers are welcome, whether you’re attending BEA or not!

WHERE: Tir Na Nog Irish Bar & Grill, 315 W 39th St., between 8th & 9th Ave. There are two Tir Na Nogs in Manhattan, so make sure you go to the one on 39th! We will be in the front bar area, but just ask for the book blogger group if you’re not sure where we are!

Follow #BBMeetandDrink for info and updates!

I am beyond excited to be joining forces with these wonderful ladies this year to help plan these events and am even more excited to see you all there! Please feel free to grab any of the graphics in this post to share on your blog and on your other social media sites. The more we all spread the word, the more people who learn about it, and the more bloggers we all get to meet! Also please feel free to use #BEABloggerPicnic and/or #BBMeetandDrink if you happen to share these events on Facebook, add the graphics to your sidebar, write your own post, or whatever!

Be sure to follow #BEABloggerPicnic and #BBMeetandDrink on Twitter for any news and updates, and you can follow all the organizers as well: @alexalovesbooks, @JenRyland, @KatelynTorrey, and @OverstuffedBook.

Also, if you plan on coming, leave a comment below, or send us a tweet with #BEABloggerPicnic or #BBMeetandDrink and let us know! Come to one, or come to both!

We hope to see you there!

Happy Friday And Oh Yeah, It’s My Blog’s 3rd Birthday!

Where the frick has the time gone? I cannot believe that it has been three years since Kate’s Tales of Books and Bands has come to be! The past three years have been nothing short of crazy. The blog has seen many changes, some good and some bad (I’m looking at you year of the cheesy background and the even cheesier blog name), my bookish tastes have changed and evolved, music, as if it were even possible, has become an even bigger part of my life, and my real life has been chop full of ups, down, curly q’s, whackiness, randomness, awkwardness, and everything in between.

I really tried to come up with a fun way to celebrate the blog turning three but my mind drew a blank. Really I spent too time looking up pictures of cats eating cake and not enough time brainstorming but we’re going to go ahead and ignore that right now. Anyways, getting back on track, in lieu of being crafty, creative, and oh so unique, I decided I would just do a recap post and you know, host a giveaway of awesomeness because really, what’s a party without presents?

BLOGGING AND BOOKISH AWESOMENESS:

This year, and really over the course of the past three years, this blog has held a lot of awesome memories and reached some pretty incredible milestones. I tried to pull out my favorite memories from the past year!

First and foremost was the 2nd Annual Book Blogger Love-A-Thon. This year I enlisted the help of my good blogger friend and awkward twin Alexa. The event turned out to be such an incredibly awesome time and I cannot imagine it going any better. We trended on FREAKING TWITTER. Seriously. There were no words (and that’s not only because I went a full 35 hours without sleep).

Second up is BEA! You guys, it was probably my favorite part of the year. I was able to meet so many INCREDIBLE authors and even more AMAZING bloggers! I was blown away by how fun it was to see people I haven’t seen in forever, meet people I have only talked to online, and interact with bloggers/bookish people who were totally new to me. Even though it was a little nerve-wrecking taking on New York all by myself, I would do it over again in a heartbeat.

 

Two events I was able to attend while in New York also made the list because well, they were beyond awesome! I co-hosted the 2013 BEA Book Blogger Picnic with Andrea from The Overstuffed Bookcase , Alexa from Alexa Loves Books, and Jen from YA Romantics. The event turned out to be such a blast. Over 30 bloggers who were in or around the city at that time showed up to Central Park and we talked all things books, blogging, music, and whatever else popped into the conversation. It was so great to meet everyone! I was also able to attend the Rooftop Party. Holy Amazeballs! There were bloggers, authors, and awesome bookish people galore. I tried to contain the fangirlness over what was going on but really it was just no use.

I also hosted Jennifer Echols Week here on the blog a few weeks ago. I had so much fun spreading the love of all things Jennifer Echols with fellow bloggers. The week was full of book reviews, book playlists, hot guys, and so much fan-girling.

   

The worlds of New Adult + Adult books have taken over my life the past year. I still love my YA books hardcore but with New Adults in particular, I feel like I have finally found my place in the book loving community. I have read some pretty spectacular New Adult and Adult novels over the course of the past year and I just know there will be more to come!

By far, the most incredible and squeal-worthy event to occur to me (or at least in my bookish life) is that I got to meet the incredible, amazing, gorgeous, and super sweet Sarah Dessen. I arrived at BEA 3 hours early to ensure I got a ticket to her signing. I then stood in line for her signing for over an hour. I was a bundle of nerves that entire time because I was finally going to meet my reason for reading and for loving YA books. The moment flew by, I was only able to compliment Sarah Dessen three times, and I wasn’t able to take a picture with her but it was still so fantastic. If I ever get the chance to meet her again, I vow to be less creepy and DEFINITELY get a picture with her.

LIFE’S RANDOM CRAZINESS:

I left my teen years behind as of last November. Finally turning 20 was actually sort of heart breaking…well at first. I just had so much fun as a teenager so it was really hard for me to adjust to being a non-teen. It was also really awkward for me to read that first YA book after my birthday and realizing that I was old compared to that character. Regardless of how being 20 started off as, I have actually had a lot of fun. Plus I still tell people I’m 18 (totally on accident, I swear) and 90% of the people I meet think I am 17 or younger so it’s almost like I never left teenagerdom behind!

Another exciting part of this last year was getting Lola, my crazy, psychotic, sometimes cuddly, sometimes wacky, but always super adorable cat. My instagram has become overrun by her and I can already see myself as a future crazy cat lady (that is, if I am not one already.)

I also became an aunt! My older sister, Jennifer, gave birth to Henrik last February. I do not get to see them very often but I always look forward to the absolutely adorable and super sweet pictures she sends me of him!

Last but not least was saying goodbye to my younger sister and best friend. She got married a bit unexpectedly in December and by May she had moved to Hawaii with her husband. In early June I received a phone call saying that I was going to be an aunt again. I miss the girl like crazy and everything that has happened with her the past year has been a whirlwind of madness but I couldn’t be happier for her.

TOP 3 FOR YEAR 3:

My top three blog posts for the past year are: It’s my birthday, For Fans of Sarah Dessen, Book Review: The Truth About Forever. I am never surprised that Sarah Dessen-related posts made it to the top. I talk about the woman all of the time!

The three most visited pages for the last year were my Review Policy page, my About Me page, and my Bloggers To Check Out page. I was really kind of surprised that my review policy page was on the list because seriously, that’s kind of boring!

I love that WordPress started keeping stats of what countries were visiting! Not that this is going to be shocking or anything but the top 3 countries that visited the blog were the US, Canada, and the United Kingdom.

The top three search terms used to find my blog have been Birthday Cat, Unicorns & Rainbows, and Authors Like Sarah Dessen. I totally understand the last one but how the heck is Birthday Cat the most common search term used? You people are weird.

GIVEAWAY TIME:

In honor of my blog turning three I am going to have a big giveaway of randomness. I am not quite sure what the winner will receive but there will be books, music, swag, and much, much more! Since I am broke as a joke, the giveaway is U.S. only (I am so sorry to all the international people. If money weren’t and issue, you’d totally be included in this!) All you have to do to enter is fill out the rafflecopter form below! Best of luck to all of you and thank you so much for making this last year a memorable one for me!

p.s. You will have some chances to gain extra points by following & liking Lady Reader’s Bookstuff. Be sure to stop by Amy’s blog because she is celebrating her 3-year birthday this week as well!

Enter the giveaway here!

You Are Invited To The….

Hello awesome book bloggers! It is now officially the middle of May so do you know what that means? BEA is just a few weeks away! The absolutely AWESOME blogger, Andrea from The Overstuffed Bookcase came up with this amazing idea for all bloggers either attending BEA or bloggers that are from the area to come and chit-chat and meet the people behind the blogs in a very casual (but fun!) setting. Brainstorming began among Andrea, myself, Alexa from Alexa Loves Books, and Jen from YA Romantics and before long the 2013 BEA Book Blogger Picnic was born! Check out all the below information for more details on the event and of course if there are any questions, comments, or suggestions, please feel to contact any one of us!

What:  The BEA Book Blogger Picnic is a gathering for all book bloggers during BEA week.  It’s a laid-back gathering, where we’ll simply be meeting others and talking about books, blogging, BEA, or anything at all!

Why:  A lot of us book bloggers will be in NYC for BEA, and this picnic will allow us to get together in one place at one time!

Who:  ALL book bloggers are welcome, whether you’re attending BEA or not!

Where:  The lawns outside Heckscher Playground (see map below) near the SW corner of Central Park in NYC.

When:  Friday, May 31st, 6-8pm. This is a come-and-go event, so it’s okay to come late or leave early!  And if people aren’t done talking when the sun goes down, we can move indoors somewhere. (Just follow #BEABloggerPicnic and we’ll tweet where we are if we go somewhere else.)

Extra Info: Unless one of us becomes millionaires within the next couple weeks, this event is BYOF (bring your own food…if you want). When you are free, please come meet us at the lawns outside the Heckscher Playground!  Here’s a map of the SW corner of Central Park.  We’ll be in the lawns somewhere outside the Heckscher Playground, probably somewhere on the south side of the playground.  But don’t worry, we’ll have a sign so that you’ll know it’s us!

And be sure to follow #BEABloggerPicnic on Twitter for any news and updates, and you can follow all the organizers as well:  @alexalovesbooks, @JenRyland, @KatelynTorrey, and @OverstuffedBook.  And please spread the word (the more people who know about the event, the more people we will get to hang out with)!  Feel free to tweet with #BEABloggerPicnic, share the event on Facebook, add the graphic at the top of this post or the one below to your sidebar, write your own post about it, whatever! Also, if you think you will be able to attend please leave a comment, tweet us, or email us to let us know!

We hope to see you there!

Kate’s Tales Of Books And Bands Turns 2!!!

Happy cat is happy…because it’s my blog’s birthday!

I cannot believe this day has finally come! I know there are 365 days in a year. I know there are 8,760 hours/525,600 minutes/31,536,000 seconds in every year (okay so technically I didn’t know that but I do find that Google is very useful for this type of information). Even though I had all of those minutes, hours, and seconds this blog birthday seemed to creep up right behind me. This past year, really the past 2 years have been an absolute whirlwind of awesomeness. Sure keeping a blog up to date can be a huge pain in the butt and I have been known to slack off once..err I mean countless times but at the end of the day I am so thankful and glad that I started blogging. I love the way that it has made me a better writer, it has improved my communication skills (i.e. my Twitter skills), and I have made so many gracious, generous, adorable, talented, blog-tastic, amazing friends! Before it gets too emotional and lovey dovey up in here I’m just going to skip to the fun part! Here are some of my favorite highlights/stats of the past year, my answers to a few questions, and of course giveaways (because really what’s a party without presents):

The top 3 countries that view my blog:

The United States, The United Kingdom, and Canada

MY top 3 favorite countries that view my blog:

United Arab Emirates, Croatia, and Kazakhstan (mostly because I have NEVER heard of these places before)

The top 3 referrers to my blog:

Search engines, Twitter, & GReads!

MY top 3 favorite referrers:

Actually just those 3…since they are all awesome (but most importantly Ginger’s blog)!

The Top 3 posts:

For Fans Of Sarah Dessen!, The Truth About Forever by Sarah Dessen, This Lullaby by Sarah Dessen

MY top 3 favorite posts:

Well since I enjoy everything I write about (duhhh….why else would I write about it?!?!) I refuse to narrow it down. Cheesy but true.

The Top 3 pages:

Home, About Me, Bloggers To Check Out

MY Top 3 favorite pages:

Bloggers To Check Out, Music, Authors To Check Out

And now a few questions from a few of my favorite bloggers!!!!

Alexa @ Alexa Loves Books:

What’s your favorite book of 2012? Oh wow…you want me to choose an actual favorite!?!?! Considering that 80% of the books I’ve read this year have been 5-stars that makes this question extra hard to answer.

In line with the first question, what song would you pick to match with that book? Wow I really should have read the second question before I answered the first. Since you are FORCING me to pick an answer I suppose it would have to be a newer favorite Slammed by Colleen Hoover. The music that matches that book, The Avett Brothers of course (since their music is featured throughout the entire book!)

If you could live anywhere in the world, where would it be? I will have another non-answer for this one. Anywhere and everywhere! Honestly if I could find a good paying job, the time to travel constantly, and the money to be able to do so then I would travel around for the rest of my life. There is just so much out there waiting to be seen and I sort of want to see it all!

What’s your most awkward or embarrassing memory? This question can be hard to answer as well. I was asked this question for my senior quote in the yearbook and do you know what my response was? “Every day of my life includes an embarrassing moment.” This is in fact the absolute truth but like my good friend Alexa, I have learned to live up to the awkwardness. But to actually answer this question, I will have to go with my senior year spring break with Kati. We attempted to swim in the ocean, I ran in just as a large wave was building up. Since I lack super-human strength I was washed back to shore…on a beach full of people…looking like a drowned rat…and bottomless. Yeah, it’s hard to beat that.

How do you like to arrange your books on your bookshelves? Finally a question I can answer! I’ve tried many ways over the past few years but eventually my OCD tendencies get in the way and I go back to the good ole: Author last name (alphabetical), if it’s a series I put it in the correct order, and if the author has multiple books those go alphabetical. I also have a smaller bed-side bookshelf in which I put review/want to read ASAP books, books I’ve read and need to review, and a growing stack of books I need to get rid of before my book shelves collapse.

YIKES! You’re stranded on an island after your plane crashed. What books would you wish you had? Jellicoe Road by Melina Marchetta (those characters, that story…it could keep my mind entertained time and time again), The Truth About Forever by Sarah Dessen because this is my all-time favorite book, and The Fault In Our Stars by John Green because that book taught me so much about life and I have a feeling that if I re-read it there is still so much I could learn.

If you could eat one thing every single day for a month, what would it be? Without a doubt this would be bagels. You can get sweet bagels for the morning like the french toast flavored ones from Big Apple Bagel or the cinnamon sugar ones from Panera Bread. Or you can get the savory bagels for lunch and dinner like my ultimate favorites cheddar cheese bagels and Asiago cheese bagels. Clearly I’ve considered this before.

Cupcakes or cookies? Would the cookies be cooked? Because honestly, cookie dough trumps ALL deserts. BUT if they were in fact cooked, I’d go with cupcakes. I FREAKING LOVE CUPCAKES!

If you could be any paranormal creature, what would you be? Oh, good question! I am absolutely fascinated by vampires, werewolves, shape-shifters, witches, warlocks, fairies…basically all of them. It would be awesome if I could be a hybrid of all but if not, I’ll go with a witch. Magic has fascinated me since I was a little girl and I always, always, always secretly wished that it was real!

Who’s your all-time book boy crush? Okay, let’s get real here. Katelyn is a bit of a fictional-book-boyfriend-slut. If I had a quarter for every fictional guy I had a crush on I would probably be all sorts of wealthy. I like guys like Jase from My Life Next Door for his ultimate goodness, Wes from The Truth About Forever for his friendship, Will from Slammed for his devotion to family, Tristan from Anew because of his everything, and Noah from Pushing The Limits for his bad-boyness but for serious, I love all of my book boyfriends!

Justin @ Justin’s Book Blog:

If you could choose to step into the world of any book, which book would you chose and why? If I’m being honest I am going with an answer that is totally cray-cray. I think the world of Veronica Roth’s series is totally amazing. I don’t care that it is full of jumping off moving trains, scariness, and the occasional killings. I think it would be awesome to prove (or at least attempt to prove) that I am dauntless.

If you could meet anyone, dead or alive, who would it be and why? Hmm… I think it would be AWESOME if I could gather all of my favorite bloggers, all of my favorite authors, and all of my favorite Twitter people and stay at a resort for a week. There are just so many people who I talk to daily that I have yet to meet so seeing them all at once would be incredible!

What would you say has been the most enjoyable things for you during your two years of blogging? Literally everything! I have loved creating reviews and blog posts (when I’m not too tired), I love interacting with the bloggers and authors on Twitter, the book events like the ones here in Michigan and out-of-state events like the RT Convention and BEA have been amazing, and I love just the day-to-day blog-ish things that happen. Even though at some moments I seem stressed or overwhelmed, everything collectively has made this experience extremely special.

What would you attempt if you knew you could not fail when attempting it? Well aside from robbing a bank and bookstore, I will have to go with writing…a whole book not just a blog post. Every now and then I get little ideas in my head, stories I think may be interesting to write about but I’m still in the stage of  “Oh em gee…I don’t want  anyone to think I am stupid for writing this type of thing. Like all my friends leave me for being so silly. And my family will disown me fo-shizzle (actually they’ll probably disown me for say “fo-shizzle” online). And me becoming a failed, homeless recluse is totally depressing.” Positive person am I. But seriously, to be able to write, be successful and maybe fail a little (to learn of course) but not enough to cause the imagined scene in my head would be a dream.

What do you think you might be doing now, if you didn’t enjoy books and blogging as much as you do? I would have no life without books and blogging. Seriously. I mean I still would hang out with my best friends, go to the occasional concert, entertain myself by looking at cute cats online, and get pestered to death by little siblings but that’s about it.

In your two years of blogging, has there been anything that has happened which had a huge impact on you? If you count “meeting” so many awesome bloggers, authors, and bookish people as anything, then I’d say that. The community as a whole is what’s been the largest impact on me. They support me through so much with blog-related things and real-life things and for that I am so happy to have gotten the chance to get to know them.

Mandie:

How did you get to be so awesome?! In the words of Lady Gaga “Baby, I was born this way.” Kidding…well sort of. In truth I think the world of Mandie so it makes me smile big time that for some unknown reason she thinks I’m awesome <3

p.s. THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU ALL FOR THE PAST TWO YEARS! I know I said I wouldn’t get too lovey dovey but you guys have made these past two years so unbelievably amazing and fantastic. There has been so many awesome things that have happened over the past two years but you guys stopping by the blog and giving me your support is truly what has made it all worthwhile. I want to thank you from every nook and cranny of my heart for being so accepting and loving towards me & this blog <3

And now to show my ultimate gratitude for how awesome I think YOU are I have a little giveaway:

U.S. Only:

To enter, please look over guidelines and fill out the form below:

-Must live in the U.S.
-Giveaway ends 8/25
+1 For following @KatelynTorrey on Twitter
+1 For liking Kate’s Tales of Books and Bands on Facebook
+5 For sharing the giveaway via Twitter or Facebook (must leave links)

International Only:

To enter please look over the guidelines and fill out the form below:

-Must live outside of the U.S.
-Giveaway ends 8/25
+1 For following @KatelynTorrey on Twitter
+1 For liking Kate’s Tales of Books and Bands on Facebook
+5 For sharing the giveaway via Twitter or Facebook (must leave links)

The winner of this giveaway gets two books of their choice from The Book Depository!

 

 

 

It’s Almost Party Time!

In just a few short days (8 to be exact) this blog is turning 2!!! I know, I know it’s getting so dang old (I even think I’m starting to see a wrinkle or two form).  Regardless of all the oldness, a birthday is still a birthday and I plan to make it fun this year! Last year I did vlogs in which I answered questions from you guys and that was super fun. Unfortunately, my webcam seems to be broken so I cannot do that exact same thing this year. *insert super sad face* But I can still answer questions and I promise it will be entertaining! So here’s how this works:

-You can ask me anything, and I mean ANYTHING! It can be the most serious or the silliest questions you can come up with; they can be This or That questions, questions about books and music, or whatever the first thing is that pops into your head.

-Once you have questions ready, you can put them on the form below all before August 16th!

-Keep in mind that for every question you ask before the 16th, you gain an extra point for the giveaway that will be going live that day! The large giveaway will be for U.S. only but there will be a smaller giveaway for International participants only so all can join in!

-And then when the big birthday rolls around, stop by the blog to see the answers to your questions (however embarrassing they may be), join in on the birthday fun, and enter for a chance to win some awesome books and music!

 

 

 

So Long (but only for a little bit!)

Well guys, it seems the time has come for me to say goodbye. Now before you jump to any rash decisions on why I’m leaving, hear me out:

MY COMPUTER HAS DIED!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! *insert lots and lots of sad faces right here*

You see, I had known the time was coming but I didn’t expect it to happen so quickly. One day it was working perfectly fine and then the next my bright purple, super pretty & handy best friend is gone. Thank goodness I have a 3 year warranty on it and they are replacing it at no cost to me but it will still take quite a while for the new one to show up. So be patient people, I promise that when I return there will be lots of reviews (about time!), that BEA re-cap I’ve been promising, and all the old but fun features including but not limited to: Tune In Tuesday, TGIF, Life As Kate, This or That, and In My Mailbox. I’ll still be on Twitter so if you find you are missing me far too much, you can always send me a Tweet! Thanks for being awesome!

Katelyn Visits GReads!

Warning: An insane amount of exclamation points are used in the following post. Read at your own risk.

You guys, I am so excited today and I bet you want to know why (or if you don’t really want to know why, I am going to tell you anyways)!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Today, the greatest Thursday of all time, I am featured on one of the coolest blogs around GReads!!!!!! Ginger is one of the most awesome, sweetest, musically & bookish knowledgeable people that I know! I love her weekly features like Tune In Tuesday and TGIF and she makes talks about books and music so much fun! Basically, I was honored that I was able to be on her Blogger Behind The Book feature! Ginger asked a series of awesome questions and I tried my hardest to answer them in a somewhat entertaining way that showed you guys how funny and quirky that I think I am while also giving you a bit of insight as to who I really am! So if you have a moment today, go on over to her blog and check out the interview; I hope you enjoy!

Check out my Blogger Behind The Book Interview!!!!!

TGIF (49)

There once was an awesome blogger named Ginger and she decided to create a super fun feature where fellow bloggers would answer fabulous questions via blog posts every Friday. TGIF was born and we all have Miss Ginger at GReads! to thank for that! This week’s question is:

A Book Blogger is Born:

What made you decide to start your very own book blog?

I just answered this question for my Blogger Behind the Book interview that will be on Ginger’s blog soon so you guys will have to act all surprised when you read it again! Basically here is a very lengthy story of why I started a blog:

So picture this, a very nerdy (but thinks she is so cool) Katelyn is in her senior year of high school. She is so FREAKING EXCITED because she is taking a Young Adult Literature class with perhaps the coolest teacher on the planet. It just so happens that this brilliant teacher has her own blog, YA Love, and this is something Katelyn has never really known about before. But now, back to the class, it is centered all around book and Katelyn soon realizes just how much she has missed reading lately. Soon enough she is buying more and more books…on top of the great ones we were required to read in class.  Occasionally the class goes on to the computer to check out our teacher’s blog and we leave some comments. While all this nerdish goodness is going down Katelyn is also struggling through her first and last season of Tennis. She may have been a Cross Country and Track runner her whole life but this last year is different. She decided to do something fun regardless of her lack of coordination. Right before the school year ended, Katelyn’s top moment of gracefulness came to a peak when she dislocated her kneecap.

The whole first part of summer was spent lying around, watching TV, and getting on the computer. After a while Katelyn decides to look up her former teacher’s book blog. Upon doing so she discovers so many other book blogs! It doesn’t take long for Katelyn to decide that she too wants a book blog. In August of 2010, Katelyn’s Blog was born. For the first few months there were very few posts and in those posts Katelyn rambled on endlessly about her life assuming that any random person was just dying to know all that information. This was not the case. It wasn’t until January 2011 that Katelyn’s Blog really turned into a book blog. Add in a few reviews, some author interviews, giveaways, a name change, lots of music posts, a ton of fun memes, a creating of a Twitter account, more random posts than any person can count, and that leads us to where we are today, Kate’s Tales of Books and Bands!

This week on Kate’s Tales of Books and Bands:

TGIF (48)

Life As Kate (15)

In My Mailbox (34)

Cicada by Belle Whittington + Blog Tour + Giveaway!

Tune In Tuesday (59)

Calling all bloggers, authors, and awesomely bookish people!

Calling all bloggers, authors, and awesomely bookish people!

You may have noticed on my last Life As Kate post that I am starting a new feature on my blog. Since I love blogger interviews but HATE coming up with the good, juicy questions, I am making it a little easier on myself by doing This Or That interviews! Basically if you sign up to participate in the feature, you will get a series of This Or That/Would You Rather questions. Then on your assigned date, I will post all your answers so readers can learn a little more about you. I think this can be easy, a bit of fun, and hopefully something you guys will want to be a part of! If you are interested, please make sure you sign up in the form below!

TGIF (46)

There once was an awesome blogger named Ginger and she decided to create a super fun feature where fellow bloggers would answer fabulous questions via blog posts every Friday. TGIF was born and we all have Miss Ginger at GReads! to thank for that! This week’s question is:

Reading Blues:

We all get them from time to time. What helps you overcome those reading slumps when nothing seems to grab your attention?

As always, another great question from Ginger! Like writers have their writing blocks, us readers/reviewers/bloggers most certainly have our own reading blocks! In fact, this whole past year has been one giant reading block for me *sad face* Sometimes work, school, and general life gets in the way. Other times I can be let down by certain books or overly impressed by others. And then let’s not forget the good ole’ excuse of being lazy. No matter what the cause of the reading slump may be there are always a few different things you can do to fix the problem!

–DON’T FORCE IT: If a book really just isn’t holding your interest, don’t push on until you can’t stand it anymore. I used to be very strict on myself about always finishing a book once I started one. It took some time but I have finally realized that I am not being fair on myself or the book if I am forcing it.

–FIND OUT WHAT’S BUGGING YOU: Maybe it is not that you are in a reading slump exactly. It could be stress from real life, the fact that your car didn’t start, or maybe it’s that Teen Wolf hasn’t been on TV for almost a full year now! Whatever the case may be, try to figure out if there is a separate source bugging you and then address it. If it’s school, I study and get caught up on homework. If it’s work, I focus a bit more time and energy towards that. Try it out, it really helps!

–SWITCH UP THE GENRE– It very well could be that you are sick of a certain genre. Maybe you’ve read one too many Dystopian or Contemporary novels. By switching it up a bit, you gain a fresh, new perspective. Plus as a super awesome All Time Low song says, “Too much of anything is too much.”

–READ A FEW BLOGS– Sometimes it is good to just step away from your “book” reading to do some “blog” reading. I don’t know about you guys but I sure as heck have been guilty of forgetting that I am part of a blogging COMMUNITY. There are other bloggers out there to talk to if I need it, who have blogs to read at my leisure, and they are there to interact with on a practically daily basis. It is always so much fun and refreshing to check out new & old blogs. I like that you are able to see what they have been reading lately, check out what is new in the bookish world, and join in a variety of book-related conversations. Also, seeing everyone else’s passion for books and reading can help reignite your love for it too!

–PUT THE REVIEW BOOK DOWN. RIGHT NOW!!!– Nothing wears me out more than endless amounts of review books. Don’t get me wrong, I LOVE reviewing books for various authors/publishers but sometimes I can be a bit overwhelmed when I accept too many at one time or get too far behind. Don’t stress, it will only make your reading slump worse! Remember to take the time to read a book just for the fun of it!

–LISTEN TO MUSIC– Come on, this is a music blog almost as much as it is a book blog; you just had to know  that I would say it! If you’re already in a reading slump and things just don’t seem to be working out for you, then so be it! Close that darn book, turn on your favorite jams, pull out that hairbrush-turned-microphone, and have a DANCE PARTAYYY of epic proportions! Have a little fun, let the music carry you away, and when you are finally feeling the burn from all that booty shaking, try picking up your book again; I guarantee it will work out better for you!

This week on Kate’s Tales of Books and Bands (4/20-4/27):

TGIF (45)

Tune In Tuesday (56)

Unicorns and Rainbows!

Katelyn has officially lost it!